ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE 2024

International Atlantic Exchange Artist Residency: Ethan Murphy

“Two years ago, while I was on Fogo Island I was asked whether or not I was optimistic about Newfoundland. I felt as though my personal opinion didn’t matter so much as the question itself and I wanted to extend that line of questioning further using photography.

Over the past year I have been working on an ongoing series of photographs examining ferry accessed communities in Newfoundland which has provided me with a regional framework to explore this idea of optimism. I realized that these isolated communities and that the rural environment itself tended to yield more generative communities that were more self-sufficient, more resourceful, more creative, and prioritized collectivism, all out of necessity.

Preserving tradition via word of mouth has become important in order for these communities to continue sustaining themselves with what resources they have around them. I am interested in preserving some of these traditions with photography and highlighting their importance by engaging people with contemporary art. I am actively looking to expand the project to other countries neighboring the Atlantic that share similar resource models.

This residency would be a great opportunity to expand the project in Ireland and begin new long term relationships that I can continue to foster. I am interested in connecting with the local community and trying to contribute to the lives of those who inform the project in a reciprocal way.

I am also interested in the parallels between Dunree and the surrounding areas with the rural communities of Newfoundland I have been working in. This project has been my largest body of work both in terms of time invested and images made that I would like to produce into my first artist monograph.”

Ethan Murphy is a visual artist from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador where he continues to live and work. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography Studies from the School of Image Arts at Toronto Metropolitan University and is one of the founders of DarkNL Community Darkroom. His practice reflects on specificity of place while considering the importance of Newfoundland’s rural environment. Murphy’s work is conceived from a fluctuating perspective acquired from leaving and returning to the island, enabling him to renegotiate his connection to its remote areas. He reconciles his relationship with identity, loss, memory, and family while examining the Newfoundland landscape post cod moratorium, pointing to a series of economic blows dealt to the province over the past half century.
Murphy has exhibited internationally, at the National Gallery of Canada and was awarded the New Generation Photography award in 2019.

International Artist Residency: Arijit Bhattacharrya

The Whispering Sea

In the whispers of history and the echoes of my lineage, I find myself rooted in the narrative of migration that spans generations. Born and raised in the tranquil village of Bally, West Bengal, I am an heir to a legacy shaped by the turmoil of the Indian subcontinent’s partition in 1947. My family’s journey began in the bustling port city of Chittagong, where my grandparents, like countless others, embarked on a journey of survival and resilience.
The upheaval of partition compelled my ancestors to seek refuge, leaving behind the familiar shores of Chittagong for the uncertain embrace of Mumbai. Their tales, woven with threads of displacement and fortitude, have resonated through the passages of time, imprinting upon me a profound connection to the rhythms of migration and the cadence of the sea.

Growing up in Bally, the whispers of the Indian Ocean danced through the stories passed down by generations. The ocean, a witness to the collective memories and narratives of my family’s exodus, became an intrinsic part of myself—a silent witness to the legacy of movement and adaptation.

Now, in the context of this residency at Artlink, I yearn to forge an artistic dialogue between the Indian Ocean’s melodic history and the vast expanse of the Atlantic. This opportunity serves as a poetic juncture to weave the threads of my heritage with the broader tapestry of global migrations.

My artistic endeavour aims to illuminate the intricate parallels between the migration of waters and the human odyssey. It’s an exploration that transcends geographical boundaries, seeking to decipher whether the essence of migration resides solely within human vessels or if the oceans themselves, in their rhythmic tides and currents, carry echoes of movement and displacement.

Through the vessel of art, I endeavour to distil the essence of these migrations into tangible expressions that evoke emotions, provoke contemplation, and foster connections across oceans and histories.

Through various mediums encompassing murals, installation, multimedia and culinary practices, I aim to encapsulate the essence of migration, translating the intangible emotions into a tangible space of contemplation, courage, embracement and most importantly imagination.

In interacting with Artlink’s program, I intend to contribute actively to the local artistic community. Through open studio sessions, workshops, talks, and cooking sessions I aim to share my artistic journey and insights, fostering dialogues that intertwine the global narrative with the local tapestry.

This residency at Artlink stands as an intersection where my narrative converges with the grandeur of the oceans’ tales, and I am eager to embark on this immersive artistic journey—a testament to the resilience, love, adaptability, and endurance inherent in the human spirit amidst the currents of change, pain and hostility.

Arijit Bhattacharyya (Bally, 1994) is an interdisciplinary artist currently living and working between Weimar and Bally. Crossing the boundaries of installations, textiles, drawings, paintings, films, publications, performances, and cooking, Arijit’s work explores the collective experience and dialogues on contentious history and its contemporary reverberations. His artistic discourse is deeply rooted in the dissecting trajectories of sociopolitical history and its implications in cultural practices. Arijit’s institutional solo exhibition, “From Forests We Are And Forests We Will Be,” was held at the Kunstverein Braunschweig in 2023.  His works have been part of institutions like the Rodasten Konsthall, Goethe National Museum, Gothenburg International Biennial for Contemporary Art,  Nordic Art Association, Goethe Institut Thailand, Khoj International Artists’ Association, Photo Kathmandu, Kochi Biennale, and Serendipity Arts Festival, to name a few.

Irish Artist Residency: Neva Elliot

Neva Elliott creates work based on and in her life, not just narratively or anecdotally, but through extrapolating action from the awareness of the fragile and contingent nature of being human.

Projects come from a place of transparent vulnerability, saying the hard, uncomfortable things fundamental to being human. Individual works are formed through living as material, processing recollections and psychological states into action and tangible manifestation. Utilising herself as content and medium, a non- fictional performer in a lyrical conceptualism that blurs art and life.

Elliott’s recent body of work and solo show at the Linenhall Arts Centre in 2023 focused on grief centring on the artist’s loss of her husband, Colin, to cancer. Her forthcoming 2024 solo show at PALLAS will focus on post-traumatic healing and the ‘work’ everyone must do around difficult human emotions.

While on residency at Artlinks Fort Dunree, she will be working from biographical notes from the loss of her husband, whose family hails from Donegal. Creating work from and about her healing journey through lived experience – using her practice as a personal transformative process and vice versa. With works emerging as a product and communication from this experience, across textiles, ceramics, photography, text, performative action, voice, sculpture, and drawing.

While rooted in her personal biography, she aims to expand beyond individual memoir to speak to audiences honestly about aspects of our shared humanity that still hold some taboos – death, grief, and mental health.
“I use my practice to traverse the world, my relationships and the difficulties of being human. For me, it’s a means to work through grief, somewhere to place love for those who have gone, a way back to myself. It is a survival strategy baked into the act of making; an offering to my anguish and anxiety, a petition to ease it, a prayer in reverse.”

Neva Elliott is a Dublin-based artist and writer with an MA from Central Saint Martin’s, London. She has exhibited throughout Ireland and internationally, including the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow, The National Gallery of Ireland, and The South African National Gallery. After a decade as CEO of Crash Ensemble, Ireland’s leading contemporary music group, Elliott returned to her art practice full-time in 2021.

Highlights from 2023 include her solo exhibition, How to create a fallstreak, at Linenhall Arts Centre, being an invited artist at the 193rd RHA Annual Exhibition and showing at ARTWORKS 2023 Remembering The Future at VISUAL Carlow, where she secured an award for ‘outstanding work’.

VISUAL Carlow also commissioned an excerpt from her memoir writing, which can be read at visualcarlow.ie/art-ideas. Other writing has been featured in literary journals, art and photography publications, and as exhibition texts, including Banshee, Unapologetic Magazine, Visual Artists Newsheet and Source Photographic Review, where it earned runner-up in Source’s New Writing Prize for 2023.

Elliott is an Irish Hospice Foundation signature artist.

Her solo show Notes on Being Human: A Year of Making, is scheduled for September 2024 at PALLAS Projects and Studios, Dublin and a two-person show at the Courthouse Gallery, Co. Clare, in 2025.

Norway Artist Residency Research Visit

Building Connections in Northern Norway

Our trip commenced in Bodø, where we met Marie Peyre, International Communications & Relations Manager for Bodø2024. Her insights into the European Capital of Culture initiative resonated with Artlink’s New Rhythm programme, reinforcing the significance of cultural exchanges between our regions.

A key highlight was visiting NŌUA, an artist-run institution for photography as contemporary art. Established by Marianne Bjørnmyr and Dan Mariner in 2017, NŌUA fosters collaboration between Norwegian and international artists, curators, and art historians. We attended the opening of Morten Torgersrud’s exhibition, gaining valuable insights into contemporary photography practices.

At Stormen Library and Theatre, we explored the exceptional library gallery curated by artist Stian Hansen. Over coffee, we discussed the challenges and rewards of being an artist in a rural coastal community, curating exhibitions, and the library’s role as a cultural hub. The library’s children’s librarian, Ellen, kindly captured a memorable photo of us in Stian’s office.

Another significant meeting was with Maria Lyngstad Willassen, an advisor in art and cultural development and Artist in Residence Coordinator. She expressed enthusiasm for our efforts and encouraged the establishment of a reciprocal residency program between Ireland and Norway.

In Kabelvåg, we connected with Christian and Ragnhild Skagen and explored the vibrant local art scene. Christian was Artlink artist in residence in 2019. The village boasts an art school, an Italian deli, a glass-making studio, and a former courthouse-turned-community craft centre, which now offers tools and ski rentals to residents.

Engaging in Conversations on Art and Culture

Throughout our journey, we had the privilege of engaging with a diverse array of artists and cultural leaders. Discussions centered on contemporary Sami culture, the parallels between Norwegian and Irish storytelling traditions, and the significance of supporting artists in rural coastal regions.

Among those we met were:

Ingrid Larssen, who was part of the Edge Centring residency at Artlink in 2007.

Anette Tunheim Jakobsen, Leader of the Cultural Cooperation in Vesterålen, who provided valuable historical context on Edge Centring, the first cultural exchange project between east Iceland, northern Norway, and Donegal.

Former Artlink artist in residence Christian Skagen (2019)

Adriana Alves and Trond Ansten at the North Norwegian Art Centre, where Trond shared insights into his project, The Long Tree in the Ocean.

Giovana and Lars at Kulturfabrikken Sortland, who offered us a sneak preview of Windows of the World.

From April 10th to April 13th, 2024, two members of Team Artlink, Martha McCulloch and Rebecca Strain, embarked on a research trip to Nordland, Norway. The purpose of the trip was to strengthen cultural connections between northern Norway and Ireland, explore potential partnerships, and deepen our understanding of the artistic landscape in the region. Throughout our journey, we engaged in numerous conversations, visited key cultural sites, and met with artists, curators, and cultural leaders.

Cultural Reflections and Future Prospects

This research trip underscored the importance of fostering sustainable creative networks through residencies, exchanges, and ongoing collaboration. We observed a shared appreciation for heritage, community-driven artistic initiatives, and the role of art in shaping identity and place.

The warm reception we received throughout Nordland reaffirmed our belief in the potential for a long-term partnership between Artlink and northern Norwegian cultural organizations. The possibility of sending Irish artists to Norway and welcoming Norwegian artists to Ireland is an exciting prospect that we will continue to explore.

This trip has left us inspired, invigorated, and eager to build upon the connections we have made. We extend our gratitude to everyone who took the time to meet with us, share their knowledge, and welcome us into their creative spaces.

We look forward to the next steps in strengthening these cross-cultural ties and to seeing the collaborations that emerge from this journey.